Traders Buy Large Volume of Call Options on Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW)

Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) was the recipient of unusually large options trading activity on Tuesday. Investors purchased 42,729 call options on the company. This represents an increase of approximately 22% compared to the average volume of 34,968 call options.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Lee Klarich sold 99,707 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $182.45, for a total value of $18,191,542.15. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 358,197 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $65,353,042.65. This trade represents a 21.77 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Nir Zuk sold 336,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $193.70, for a total transaction of $65,081,520.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 3,643,516 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $705,730,831.62. This trade represents a 8.44 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 1,458,864 shares of company stock worth $269,397,331. 2.50% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Palo Alto Networks

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Swedbank AB raised its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 19.7% during the third quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 786,574 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $268,851,000 after buying an additional 129,371 shares during the last quarter. Good Life Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Palo Alto Networks during the 3rd quarter worth $253,000. Howard Capital Management Group LLC grew its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 1.5% in the third quarter. Howard Capital Management Group LLC now owns 106,248 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $36,316,000 after purchasing an additional 1,619 shares in the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 222.6% during the third quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 2,949 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $1,000,000 after purchasing an additional 2,035 shares during the period. Finally, Capital Investment Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 5.5% during the third quarter. Capital Investment Advisors LLC now owns 4,200 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $1,435,000 after purchasing an additional 220 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts recently weighed in on PANW shares. Robert W. Baird increased their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $212.50 to $217.50 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 21st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reissued a “hold” rating and set a $190.00 target price (down previously from $207.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $223.00 to $230.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. TD Cowen raised their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $200.00 to $210.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 21st. Finally, Citigroup decreased their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $216.00 to $205.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 17th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating, twenty-nine have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $202.70.

Palo Alto Networks Price Performance

PANW stock opened at $205.19 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $134.65 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 115.60, a PEG ratio of 5.70 and a beta of 1.14. Palo Alto Networks has a 1-year low of $130.04 and a 1-year high of $208.39. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $187.11 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $182.68.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 13th. The network technology company reported $0.81 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.75 by $0.06. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 14.64% and a return on equity of 21.93%. The business had revenue of $2.26 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.24 billion. As a group, analysts expect that Palo Alto Networks will post 1.75 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Palo Alto Networks Company Profile

Palo Alto Networks, Inc provides cybersecurity solutions worldwide. The company offers firewall appliances and software; and Panorama, a security management solution for the global control of network security platform as a virtual or a physical appliance. It also provides subscription services covering the areas of threat prevention, malware and persistent threat, URL filtering, laptop and mobile device protection, DNS security, Internet of Things security, SaaS security API, and SaaS security inline, as well as threat intelligence, and data loss prevention.